Bobby Brown Cosmetics announced Monday that it would be launching a Facebook appeal to crowdsource which shades of lip colour the company will put back into production this autumn.

When voting closes at the end of February, the shades will then be available to buy exclusively via Facebook.

Founder and CEO, Bobbi Brown will post a video on the company’s Facebook wall, inviting its near 250,000 fans to vote for their favourite from a list of the ten most-frequently requested colours.

Voting will be open to those in the six countries Bobbi Brown Cosmetics sells to online; the US, UK, Korea, Japan, Germany and Australia.

The app had a simple design, was full of how-to tips, beautiful images and purchasing was easy – it was very successful. Now however, the brand clearly directs people to its main retail partners Superdrug and Boots from its Facebook page, since the ‘selling direct’ tactic probably ruffled a few feathers.

That’s can only be a good sign for Bobbi Brown however, which also works with partners, but already has strong direct sales channel in place. Its partnership with John Lewis in the UK for instance is secondary to its website.

It’s not yet clear whether Bobbi Brown’s attempt at ‘f-commerce’ will simply mean clicking back to BobbiBrown.com, or whether the make-up brand will build f-commerce functionality into an app.

Either way, this is solid thinking in terms of giving fans ownership, engaging with them in a place they already gather to discuss the brand, and then rewarding their input with a chance to buy something exclusive.